Oral Surgery

An Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon is a specialist surgeon treating the entire craniomaxillofacial complex: the anatomical area of the mouth, jaws, face, skull, and all associated structures.

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery requires 4-6 years of further formal university training after dental school (DDS, BDent, DMD, or BDS). Four-year residency programs grant a certificate of specialty training in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Six-year residency programs grant the specialty certificate in addition to a medical degree (MD, MBBS, MBChB, etc.). Specialists in this field are capable of being registered as U.S. "Board Eligible", and warrant exclusive titles.

Approximately 50% of the training programs in the U.S., 100% of the programs in Australia and New Zealand, and 20% of Canadian training programs are dual-degree — leading to dual certification in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and medicine (MD, MBBS, MBChB, etc.).

Oral surgeons also may choose to undergo further training in a 1 or 2 year subspecialty fellowship training in the following areas:

• Head and neck cancer — microvascular reconstruction
• Cosmetic facial surgery — facelift, rhinoplasty, etc.
• Craniofacial surgery/pediatric maxillofacial surgery . cleft lip and palate repair, surgery for craniosynostoses, etc.
• Cranio-maxillofacial trauma — soft tissue and skeletal injuries to the face, head and neck

Surgical procedures

Treatments performed on the craniomaxillofacial complex (mouth, jaws, neck, face, skull) include:

• Dentoalveolar surgery (surgery to remove impacted teeth, difficult tooth extractions, extractions on medically compromised patients, bone grafting or preprosthetic surgery to provide better anatomy for the placement of implants, dentures, or other dental prostheses)
• Diagnosis and treatment of benign pathology (cysts, tumors etc.)
• Diagnosis and treatment (ablative and reconstructive surgery, microsurgery) of malignant pathology (oral & head and neck cancer).
• Diagnosis and treatment of cutaneous malignancy (skin cancer), lip reconstruction
• Diagnosis and treatment of congenital craniofacial malformations such as cleft lip and palate and cranial vault malformations such as craniosynostosis, (craniofacial surgery)
• Diagnosis and treatment of chronic facial pain disorders
• Diagnosis and treatment of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders
• Diagnosis and treatment of dysgnathia (incorrect bite), and orthognathic (literally "straight bite") reconstructive surgery, orthognathic surgery, maxillomandibular advancement, surgical correction of facial asymmetry.
• Diagnosis and treatment of soft and hard tissue trauma of the oral and maxillofacial region (jaw fractures, cheek bone fractures, nasal fractures, LeFort fracture, skull fractures and eye socket fractures)
• Splint and surgical treatment of sleep apnea, maxillomandibular advancement, genioplasty (in conjunction with sleep labs or physicians)
• Surgery to insert osseointegrated (bone fused) dental implants and maxillofacial implants for attaching craniofacial prostheses and bone anchored hearing aids.
• Cosmetic surgery limited to the head and neck (rhytidectomy/facelift, blepharoplasty, otoplasty, rhinoplasty, genioplasty, etc.)

In addition, graduates of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery training programs can pursue fellowships, typically 1 - 2 years in length, in the following areas:

• Head and neck cancer — microvascular reconstruction
• Cosmetic facial surgery — facelift, rhinoplasty, etc.
• Craniofacial surgery/pediatric maxillofacial surgery — cleft lip and palate repair, surgery for craniosynostoses, etc
• Cranio-maxillofacial trauma — soft tissue and skeletal injuries to the face, head and neck
• Surgical Placement of dental implants